Bramcote Hills and Geoff Kirk

Duration: 2.5 days
Teacher: Colin Ward (Head of Department)
Students: Year 9

Geoff Kirk is Chief Design Engineer at Rolls-Royce. Bramcote Hills is his old school.

Activity

Geoff visited the school about two weeks before Designers into Schools Week to give the class a presentation on his role at Rolls-Royce and a choice of three challenges:

• When it's raining and a parent is struggling with shopping and a pushchair, the child remains dry under a plastic hood but the parent gets soaked.
• A wheel-chair bound person, cannot use their arms or legs and is only capable of limited head movements. How could they use a computer?
• A biologist regularly goes out to coastal areas and estuaries that are covered in a thick layer of mud. The long boots he wears do not stop him from sinking and he sometimes sinks beyond his knees.
   

The students were put into groups and given the intervening two weeks to do research and define their customers.

On the first full day, Geoff organised creative sessions and the students were encouraged to make prototype models to test out their ideas. Much of the second day was given over to preparing presentations.

Results

One group had tackled the 'mud boots' by simulating the way ducks walk on wet ground, while another had come up with fibreglass 'boat shoes'.

For the pushchair challenge, one group had designed a combined cycle and pushchair with a cover. Three students, giving themselves the company name Pushchair Parents, had come up with a collapsible umbrella which fitted into the pushchair handle.

Feedback

Designer

Geoff enjoyed being at his old school, saying he'd volunteered because 'it's important to put something back'. Describing the rationale behind the three briefs, he said: 'I wanted them to think about defining the customer and consider the fact that there was a user, a manufacturer and people who were going to be selling the product.'

Teacher

Colin was delighted with the collaboration. 'We wanted to give the students a different experience - and they've thrived on it,' he said.

One element that made the activity stand out was teamwork, said Colin. 'We normally work as individuals, so this was a great opportunity to collaborate and they responded well to it.'

Students

When Maidul, Bhavik and Kamrul were asked what they'd enjoyed most their unanimous response was 'designing'. It was the emphasis on 'creative thinking and brainstorming' that had made the designing such fun, Michael explained.

The students also enjoyed hearing about what Geoff's job as a chief design engineer entailed. 'He made a presentation and nobody spoke at all because we were all concentrating,' said Kamrul.

When asked how the whole experience differed from typical Design & Technology lessons the pupils singled out the extended time period. 'We were able to work without being interrupted - we had proper work time,' they said.